


Love, Simon

by Deviant Demon Lord (KneelForLoki)



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Love Simon Fusion, Angst, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Aromantic, Asexual, Closeted Character, Closeted Characters, Closeted Gay, Depression, Drama, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay, Gay Panic, High School AU, Kissing Booth, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Panic Attacks, SO GAY, Student Council, Suicidal Thoughts, Teacher-Student Relationship, Twins, ace - Freeform, alcoholic, aroace, bi in denial, closeted bi, closeted lgbtq, cover-relationship, drama club, gay in denial, if smut its gonna be drunk and/or soft, maybe a little bit of smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-07-15 16:58:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16067402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KneelForLoki/pseuds/Deviant%20Demon%20Lord
Summary: Simon has to repeat a school year due to...medical problems and for that he changes to his twin brother Daniel's school. And suddenly he has a chance for friends, for a place in this unforgiving society formed by high school, a place he always only saw as literal hell on earth.In the meantime Connor starts taking a liking to their new English teacher, Mr. Anderson, who seems to have some problems of his own that Connor may just be familiar with.__________________________________________________________________________To be entirely honest, this is just a collaboration of my favourite teen/slice of life movies projected onto the DBH babies :DEnjoy!





	1. Chapter 1

His alarm clock tore him out of his sleep in the early morning with loud, obnoxious screeching, he turned around in his bed, grabbing his pillow and pressing it to his ears, just trying to somehow keep out the sound, squeezing his eyes closed in a desperate try to maybe, just maybe get a mere second more of sleep. But, unfortunately, a few inches of fabric and feathers simply weren’t enough to keep out the sound. The blonde sighed, opening his eyes and staring at his wall for a moment. It had been so long since the last time he’d been woken up by an alarm clock like that. He almost wasn’t used to it anymore. He slowly let go of his pillow, then turned around and reached out to turn off the alarm and laid back again, raising one arm to cover his eyes, hiding his face in his elbow, feeling the soft fabric rub against his eyelids. The long pyjama had become a habit, covering his arms whole down to his wrists, his legs down to his feet, a little oversized even. Sure, in summer it could end up being a little warm, but he had his reasons. He shifted his arm off his eyes, his gaze wandered to the glowing numbers of the digital clock right by his bed, it was still early, he had time, even if it wasn’t an eternity.  
First day of school, alright. First day on a new school…less alright. He – luckily – never had to experience this before, being the new one. And he wasn’t looking forward to his first time.  
He sat up, pushing a hand through his hair, then pulled his knees up to his chest, just taking a few seconds to properly wake up before finally shoving the blanket aside and swinging his legs off the bed, so they met the floor. The wooden parquet felt so familiar beneath his naked feet, yet so…unsafe, uncomfortable. He just wanted to hide under his blanket, curl up, ignore that today was happening. His fingers almost cramped up closing around the bedsheets and he hunched over, looking down at the floor.  
“Hey, clone”, he heard suddenly and his head snapped up, spotting his twin brother standing in the half-opened door, one hand resting on the doorframe, “Get up, there’s no going around this, I know that look on your face”  
“…Good morning, Daniel”, he said, giving him a small smile.  
“Morning, Simon. Now get up, we should have breakfast before we go”  
Simon nodded softly.  
“I’ll be down in a few minutes”  
Daniel grinned at him, then pushed himself away from the doorframe, moving out of Simon’s sight. Simon kept his eyes on the door for a short while even after he left, then he sighed, dropping his gaze again and fumbling with the sheets for a moment until he finally pushed himself to his feet. His legs felt weak, sleep still weighed heavy on him, partnering up with gravity to try and bring him to the floor, his Simon was used to their games and knew how to avoid them. He gripped onto his desk once he got close enough to it, steadying himself on his way to the wardrobe.  
Simon dressed in a simple, dark blue shirt with a dark grey sweat jacket over it and a pair of dark grey jeans. For a moment he stood in front of the mirror, watching himself. His eyes wandered down to his sleeves, tugging them a little further down over his hands, then he crossed his arms before turning away from the mirror and moving to leave his room, walking down the hall towards the bathroom, but before he could reach it, his little sister rushed past him and slipped into the bathroom with a cheeky smile towards him.  
“Em-“, Simon rushed after her, but she closed the door in his face.  
He sighed.  
“Emma”, he said, knocking on the door, “Please, you know I’m much faster than you with getting ready, just let me go first”  
“I was faster, my turn now!”, she called from behind the door and chuckled.  
“Simon!”, he then heard Daniel call for him.  
He turned around, seeing his brother by the stairs, holding onto the railing as he leant towards Simon.  
“Come eat breakfast”, he said.  
Simon sighed.  
“Em slipped into the bath right before me”, he complained, but Daniel just chuckled.  
“Yea, come eat something first, then you can get ready after breakfast”, Daniel hummed and turned, walking back downstairs.  
Simon glanced at the bathroom again, then he sighed and shook his head, following his twin downstairs. Even before he entered the kitchen, the smell of pancakes hit his nose and he couldn’t help a small smile. Their mom’s pancakes always were the best, he loved them, and she knew. Probably a weak attempt to make him feel better, maybe forget about what this day meant, or what it could mean.  
“Where’s mom?”, he asked as he walked into the kitchen, looking over at Daniel, who had already gotten his plate, drowned his pancakes in syrup and was just getting ready to attack them with his fork.  
Now he looked up, raising an eyebrow.  
“Left for work already. I’ll drive us to school”  
Simon made a face, walking over and grabbing his plate to go and sit beside him.  
“I actually would prefer not to die on my first day of school”, he said, glancing at his brother out of the corner of his eyes and giving him a small amused smirk.  
“Come on, I improved a lot, ask Emma”, Daniel chuckled.  
“She’s eleven, she doesn’t know how driving’s supposed to work”, Simon replied.  
“Neither do you, you didn’t even start your drivers training yet”, the other teased.  
Simon smiled softly, turning to his pancakes again and reaching for the syrup. He started eating, but soon noticed Daniel wasn’t doing much more than fiddling with his fork, poking at the sweet breakfast and pushing at it.  
“Hey…If anything happens, if anyone fucks with you…tell me, alright, I won’t let anyone get away with that”, he said finally.  
Simon looked down at his pancakes, staying silent for a moment, then he looked up, bringing himself to smile at him.  
“I’ll be fine”, he promised.  
“Oh, pancakes!”, Emma suddenly came rushing into the kitchen, grabbing the last plate and climbing onto her chair with it.  
Simon watched her, smiling slightly, then he stood up.  
“I’ll go get ready now”, he moved, setting his plate by the sink before walking out of the kitchen.  
“We’re leaving in ten minutes, Sy!”  
Simon huffed, shaking his head and walking up into the bathroom to get ready, fix his hair so he wouldn’t look like a total mess on his first day in the new school. He was stuck looking at his own reflection for a while as he brushed his teeth. At least now he’d have his brother with him, knowing Daniel would look out for him…while they’d never gone to the same school before, now they would, but a year apart. Their parents had always sent them to different schools to avoid confusion, or that’s how they always said it. And after all, he wouldn’t be the only family member having their first day at that school, Emma was starting as a Junior today, but she seemed…way calmer than him about it. No wonder considering that Simon was about to start year 11 for the second time…  
He let out a heavy sigh, spitting out and then taking another look at himself. Maybe they wouldn’t notice he was actually repeating the year, he was new, he wasn’t ever going back to his old school and the probability that anyone from there was just as much as coming close to the new one was near zero, no one who could ever possibly know. He didn’t have to tell them he was 17, they didn’t have to know he was a year older…or at least if they did notice or find out, there was still a chance they would simply think he failed his last year. After all that was the mostly the reason for anyone to repeat…  
Simon leant on the sink, swallowing heavily. His heart was pounding, it almost felt like it was going to stop at any moment.  
Nothing had ever left his school grounds, not a word, Daniel never knew, never heard anything and he was usually deeply involved in any sort of gossip, any sort of talk and rumours. His had never reached him, he didn’t have anything to fear, nothing to be afraid of, nothing, nothing.  
He gripped onto the sink tightly, hunched over it by now, his eyes closed and vigorously shaking his head. He could feel his arms beginning to shake, his shoulders, his whole body, he couldn’t keep himself still.  
“Hey, Sy”  
Simon looked up, gasping for breath almost. He could see Daniel through the mirror behind himself, leaning against the doorframe and watching his brother worriedly.  
“We’re gonna be late…come on…and take your meds, please”, he said.  
Simon shook his head, swallowing the lump in his throat.  
“I’m fine…I can’t show up to my first school day high on meds”, Simon replied jokingly, though he was still shaking slightly.  
Daniel looked at him for a moment, then looked away.  
“Your decision”, he sighed, “Just…come downstairs, okay?”  
Daniel watched him for another second, then he moved back and left to go back downstairs. Behind him, in the hallway stood Emma, kind of hiding behind the railing of the stairs, looking up at Daniel as he came closer and then turning to go back downstairs with him.  
“You’ve got everything?”, Simon heard Daniel ask him, “Pens, notebook, books?”  
She nodded and they went downstairs. He looked after them for a moment, then returned to his room to grab his bag. He checked it for everything he needed again, then grabbed his phone off his bedside table and went downstairs.  
Daniel was waiting by the door, Emma was in the car already, occupying the front seat.  
“Ready?”, he asked him.  
Simon sighed, shrugging.  
“I have to be, don’t I?”  
His twin looked at him worriedly for another moment, then he sighed.  
“Let’s go”, he stepped aside to let Simon out, then closed and locked the door after them and they walked over to the car.  
Simon looked at Emma in the front seat for a moment, she just grinned at him, so he sighed and got into the back of the car.  
Admittedly, Daniel had gotten a lot better at driving since the last time Simon had sat in a car with him, his driving style was a lot less stuttering, less hectic, less sudden breaking, and a lot less sudden and violent accelerating. He turned curves and corners a lot more smoothly and Simon actually didn’t have to fear for his life for once while his brother sat in the driver’s seat. He watched him with a small smile, then directed his gaze out the window, watching the houses and people pass by, students taking their trip to the first school day of this year by foot. The school’s parking lot soon came into sight, Simon’s heart started pounding again as the drove up to it. School…he hated this place.  
No, not this place, his old school. This was a new school, a different situation, a new start. This was nothing like any visit to that hellhole he’d experienced just half a year ago. It had to be.  
Daniel pulled into a parking spot, silently cursing about all the students running around the parking lot without paying attention to anything else, not to the cars, just walking wherever they liked, almost jumping in front of driving cars. He was threatening that one day, he was just not going to care anymore and run them over and for some reason, it made Simon smile.  
Emma opened the door, climbing out of the car as soon as Daniel turned the engine off.  
“Wait for me, Em, alright? I’ll bring you to that Junior-welcoming thing”, Daniel said and she nodded before closing the door.  
Daniel reached out to grab his bag, then turned to Simon.  
“You need to go to registry…uhh…I’ll bring away Em and then I’ll come show you where you need to go. For starters, just go to that building”, he pointed to what seemed to be the main building.  
Simon bit his lip and nodded.  
“Alright…”, he looked out the window for another few seconds, then took a deep breath before finally daring to open the door and step out, his bag slung over his shoulder.  
All at once, the sounds came crashing down on him, a hundred voices, speaking over and in between each other, steps on the concrete, so many that the sound became a deep grumble, cars arriving, engines roaring as the cars slowly drove along the parking lot slowly. Simon’s heart was hammering against his chest painfully, he leant back against the car for a moment, resisting the strong urge to get back inside, hide from all this. Then he felt Daniel’s hand on his shoulder and he turned his head to look at him.  
“You’ll make it, clone”, he said with a small smile.  
Simon had to force himself to return it, but he moved to hug his twin shortly before they parted, Daniel walking off and taking Emma’s hand to bring her to her welcoming ceremony, while Simon was left to find his own way around the school grounds. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment, then he started walking, going towards the big main building, where the greatest stream was flowing as well.  
He hadn’t quite reached the main entrance yet when a voice caught his attention.  
“Daniel!”, someone behind him yelled cheerfully and just seconds later something connected heavily with his back, arms wrapping around his shoulders.  
Simon winced heavily, eyes widening as he was embraced so suddenly and energetically.  
“I’ve missed you! Summer break is so long and boring”, the guy hugging him couldn’t be much older than him, maybe even younger, he was a bit smaller, his feet lifted off the floor as he clung to him like that.  
“I-I…”, Simon turned around, he let go, smiled at him as his arms slid off his shoulders.  
The guy was really a few inches smaller than him, had neat, short brown hair with a single strand hanging down into his face, his eyes were a warm brown and they were glowing with excitement. His frame was small, but fit, he wore a plain T-Shirt and dark jeans, his bag was hanging off his shoulder.  
Simon could just stare at him for a moment. That boy was truly the definition of beauty.  
“Everything alright? You seem disturbed”, he chuckled.  
“I’m…okay”, Simon mumbled.  
The boy gripped his arm, smiling brightly and starting to move towards the main entrance with him.  
“How was your break?”, he asked him, “I finally got around to playing that game you suggested to me ages ago, god, it’s good”, he chuckled, walking inside with him.  
Simon didn’t really have the chance to explain himself, say that he was actually /not/ his twin brother.  
“Have you gotten your timetable yet? I have. I’ve got Biology first thing this morning”, he said with a smile, “I hope we have some classes together”  
“Uhm…yea”, Simon mumbled.  
What the hell was he supposed to do? The guy was leaning into him slightly, smiling brightly and looking so adorable. Simon could feel his cheeks heating up as he looked down at him.  
“Hey, Con”, Daniels voice sounded so heavenly to him at that moment, his saviour, “Where the hell are you abducting my clone to?”  
Simon turned, looking back towards his brother and instantly relaxing a little.  
The boy by his side let go of him now, turning around to Daniel before looking at Simon again.  
“I…oh”, he laughed slightly, “I’m sorry, I thought you went to a different school”  
Daniel came over to them, hugged his friend shortly, then looked at Simon, slightly keeping his arm around the smaller boy.  
“Simon, this is Connor. Connor, my twin brother Simon. He just switched to this school”, Daniel explained then.  
“Ah”, Connor chuckled softly, “Sorry, Simon”, he smiled, “But hey, we could still have classes together”  
Simon bit his lip.  
“Unlikely…”, he mumbled.  
“Simon’s repeating. Makes more sense after switching schools”, Daniel explained shortly.  
Connor nodded, not asking any more questions.  
“Alright then. I’ll see you later, okay, Daniel? I have to get to class”, he smiled, pulling away from the blonde now and giving Simon another friendly smile, “Good luck”, he said to him, then walked off.  
Daniel sighed, looking after him maybe a few seconds too long.  
“Friend of yours, I’m assuming”, Simon looked at his brother.  
He could see him hesitating, then he turned away.  
“School-friend, yea”, he said, “Come on, I want to get to class soon. And you need to get to registry”  
Simon looked at him for a moment, then followed him. 

Daniel left him once they arrived at the secretariat with a promise to spend the breaks with him and a short hug before leaving to find his class. Simon went inside, talked to the secretary for a moment, filled out a paper and then was sent back outside and told to wait. For what, they didn’t tell him.  
Simon stood there for a while, the school bell rang, signalling the start of the first period, he leant against the wall beside the door, closing his eyes for a moment. Though just as he found a second of rest, the door right beside him suddenly swung open again, making him jump. But the sight that presented itself to him immediately made it up again. A tall, dark male, around his own age, stepped out of the secretariat, smiling at the secretary and saying something, but Simon didn’t hear what. His eyes were glued to him in silent awe as he moved out of the office, lingering at the door for a moment, finishing his conversation before he finally closed the door and turned around to looked at Simon. The blonde’s breath hitched in his throat as their eyes met, mesmerized by the colour, the heterochromia, and both so clear in their colour.  
“Oh, hello”, he said, “I’m guessing you’re Simon. Daniel should be in class already”  
Simon nodded slowly, but couldn’t really bring himself to say anything right away.  
“You really look identical”, he smiled, “Great, another set of twins I have to learn to keep apart”, he joked then and laughed slightly.  
His smile, oh god, his smile. It stretched across his full lips perfectly, they seemed so smooth, a soft shade darker than his skin.  
Simon brought himself to return the smile, stopping the urge to bite his lip, kind of wrapping his arms around himself.  
“Yea…Daniel calls me his clone…he’s like…ten minutes older”, he chuckled softly.  
“Sounds like him”, he gave him a soft laugh, god, his voice was heavenly, so amazingly smooth…  
“My name is Markus. Student council president. I’ll be showing you around, introducing the school to you. We have the first lesson to show you around”, he then explained.  
Simon nodded and smiled softly at him. Student council president, god, he must be popular. He looked sporty too, maybe a football player or something, or maybe track. Maybe he just did sports in his spare time, Simon could well imagine him in the gym, lifting weights in a loose tank top…or shirtless.  
He blushed deeply at the picture forming in his mind and looked away, trying to hide his embarrassment, but Markus didn’t even seem to notice, he’d started walking, telling him something about the benefits of this school. Simon mentally cursed himself for not listening, if he wouldn’t care about what exactly he said, he could at least listen to that voice.  
He’d never thought a voice could have an effect like that, making him melt like butter just by the sound, making him feel these things, this tingling deep inside his stomach.  
“Your timetable and your books are in your locker, I have your combination, we’re going there first”, Simon finally managed to actually pay attention to what he was saying when Markus turned around and looked at him.  
The blonde nodded softly, then quickened his steps a little, falling into pace right beside the other.  
“…So…what year are you in?”, Simon asked him then, now biting his lip slightly.  
“My last”, Markus replies with a smile, then turned his head to Simon again, “You’re repeating year eleven, right?”  
The small smile that had started sneaking its way onto Simon’s face faded now, far quicker than it had come, and he looked away.  
“Yea…”, he said quietly.  
“Hey, no shame in that – my little brother’s repeating as well, for the second time, actually…though he’s probably not the best example”, Markus chuckled slightly, “I’m just saying, no one will judge you for repeating a year, there’s probably been cases much worse than yours”  
Simon looked at him, bringing himself to a small smile again at his encouragements.  
“Thanks”, he said and Markus smiled in return, then soon stopped in the middle of the hallway.  
“There’s your locker”, he said, pointing to one way at the end of a row, “You can change your combination once we’ve got it open”  
Markus stepped towards it, reaching out and putting in the combination, then he opened the locker, reaching in to grab Simon’s timetable. Simon moved closer, kind of peering over his shoulder to take a look at it.  
“Seems you have your breaks at the same time as me”, Markus noted, then handed him the timetable, “Maybe we could hang out, I can introduce you to some people”, he suggested.  
“That…sounds nice”, Simon replied, smiling at him.  
For a moment Markus just stood and returned his smile, watching him, then he suddenly looked away, taking a step back. Simon blushed, just now realizing how close they’d been before and he swallowed heavily.  
“Have you decided on joining any clubs yet?”, Markus asked him then.  
“No…not really…haven’t really informed myself just yet”, the blonde quietly gave back, awkwardly fidgeting with the piece of paper in his hands.  
“Well, what clubs were you in in your previous school? I can almost guarantee we’ve got them as well”, Markus smiled.  
Simon shook his head, looking away.  
“Wasn’t in any clubs”  
“Well, the Student council can always use new members”, Markus still had that heavenly smile splayed across his lips.  
Simon glanced at him and couldn’t keep himself from smiling just a tiny bit.  
“I’ll think about it”, he promised.  
Markus grinned at that, then pointed to Simon’s locker again.  
“Get the books you need for today and I’ll show you the rest. Or at least the most important stuff. And then I’ll bring you to your classroom”, he said.  
Simon gave him a soft nod along with a gentle smile, “Alright”, he mumbled, turning and quickly grabbing the books he’d need, hastily stuffing them into his bag, not wanting to leave Markus waiting for too long.  
He winced suddenly as one of the books slipped from his hand and hit the floor with a bang that seemed way louder in Simon’s ears than it was. For a moment, he seemed to freeze, then moved, bending down to pick up the book, his hand shaking heavily.  
“Sorry, I uh…”, he murmured, his heart hammering against his chest in embarrassment.  
“Everything’s alright. You need help?”, Markus asked them.  
Simon could feel him taking a step closer, noticed how he was kind of reaching out, but not quite touching him yet. He quickly shook his head, shoving the book back into his bag and standing up again. He avoided Markus’ gaze, but did notice the confusion in his eyes.  
“…Let’s go”, he said then.  
Simon quickly closed his locker, then followed Markus as he started walking again, staying a little behind though, both arms wrapped around his bag, nearly clinging to it. Markus lead him around the school grounds, showing him to the cafeteria first, then the library, then explained the room plans and showed him where he could find his rooms for the first few days.  
Time passed quickly, even though it tended to appear endlessly slow when Simon felt like this – awkward, unable to stop thinking about dropping his book so stupidly, anxious and taken aback just from one sudden loud sound which he even should have been able to see coming.  
They were getting close to the end of the first lesson, Markus started leading him towards his classroom, stopping in the hall outside it.  
“So…If you need anything else, just come to me”, Markus smiled at him.  
Simon looked up now, forcing himself to return the smile.  
“I’ll be in the student council room for a lot of the breaks, especially my free periods”, he continued then, “And if I’m not there, I’m most likely either in the cafeteria or outside, where the benches are. You’ll find it”  
Simon nodded.  
“Thank you…really”  
Markus smiled, nodding.  
“No problem. Have fun on your first day”, he chuckled softly, then turned to leave.  
Simon bit his lip, his smile fading a little as Markus walked off, then he turned towards the classroom door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I'll be trying to update weekly, both fanfictions xD  
> If you find any mistakes, feel free to comment, I'm too tired to go through the chapter again to eliminate them all, soooooooooooo  
> Hope you're into it so far :3


	2. Chapter 2

When Simon first walked into the classroom and looked around, he froze for a moment, convinced he’d spotted Connor in the back, but soon enough noticing the slight differences from the boy that had jumped him earlier. The boy sitting in the back of the class was taller, his hair shorter, combed back neater than Connor’s and his clothes were different. He didn’t quite have the time, or was even close enough to him to notice any details.   
“Ah, you must be Simon Parson-Lambert, right?”, the teacher smiled at him, she had turned towards him, “You’ve been shown around the school already, I assume?”  
Simon looked at her and nodded.   
“Yea, uhm…Markus…Markus showed me around”, he bit his lip, “The student council president”  
The teacher nodded, then gestured to the class.  
“Pick a seat”, she said, “Maybe in the back, next to Mr. Reed”, she pointed to the boy next to the one he mistook as Connor, “Or with Miss Williams in the front here”, now she waved towards a girl with short, dark brown hair and blue eyes, who flashed him a friendly smile.   
Simon looked at the empty seat in the front row for a moment. Flashes of memories rolled over him, he tensed up to keep himself from wincing as he remembered balls of paper and other…harder, more painful things hitting the back of his head, so often a bump had started forming there, sometimes Simon thought it had never gone away, thought he could still feel it. He subconsciously rose one hand, touching his head as if he was feeling for the bump, then lowered it again, swallowing heavily.  
“I…prefer the back”, he said.  
The teacher just laughed.   
“Most do”, she said, nodding, “Oh, by the way, my name is Mrs. Porter, you will see me in Physics as well, if you’ve taken that course”  
Simon just nodded slightly, merely acknowledging her words and he moved towards the back. He hadn’t taken any Physics courses, actually the only science class he still took was Biology…everything else that needed too much effort he’d gotten rid of.   
Reed watched Simon carefully as he approached his seat, he was leant back in his chair, feet propped up on his desk as he was chewing on a pencil, but moved slightly and soon nudged his neighbour, the boy looking so similar to Connor to get his attention. Simon put down his bag at the desk and lightly pulled back the chair, sitting down before reaching for his bag again, getting out the books he needed along with his notebook and pencil case, then he glanced over at his new neighbour again. He was watching him still, the boy one seat over was as well. Simon bit his lip, looked down and then leant on the desk with his elbows, sort of hiding his head in his arms.   
“You’re Daniel’s twin”, he then heard from his side.  
Simon looked up again, glancing at Reed.   
“Uh, yea I am”, he mumbled.   
Mrs. Porter had started talking again, telling them something about probabilities, but Simon wouldn’t have been listening either way.  
“I’m Gavin”, his neighbour then said, “And this is Richard”, he added pointing to the other boy beside him.  
Simon bit his lip slightly and nodded, bringing himself to get out a quiet “Hi”, then he turned at least his gaze, yet not quite his attention to the front and to what Mrs. Porter was trying to tell them. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Gavin shifting in his seat, turning to him completely and resting his crossed arms on his desk.  
“Why are you in our class?”, Gavin frowned.  
Simon bit down on his lip more, then turned towards him slightly.  
“I…didn’t manage, so I had to repeat the year”, he then replied.  
“You went to a different school”, the other said then.  
He merely nodded, looking away again, just wishing he could escape this situation, this conversation, wondering whether the seat in the front would have been better after all, when he noticed another movement off to his side, this time  
Richard reaching out and nudging Gavin as he moved up again, rather obviously about to say something again. Gavin turned towards him, but then stayed silent, letting out a heavy sigh and leaning back again, slowly moving into his original position, feet on the desk, chair tipped back just enough so he wouldn’t fall back. Simon looked over at Gavin, then past him at Richard and gave him a weak, sort of thankful smile before once again turning his head towards the front, at least trying to pay attention and take some notes.   
Maths was more boring than Simon remembered, most likely even more so because this was one of the topics he still had been there for. It wasn’t all too hard. Probabilities were easy once you’d grasped the concept…and actually cared about anything happening in class. Simon soon enough had his arms crossed on the desk, his head rested on top of them, eyes closed to rest a little as he listened half-heartedly to Mrs. Porter’s explanations until the lesson finally found its end, the school bell signalling their first break for the day. Simon packed up his stuff, his eyes darted to the door and again doubts about the back row being the better choice clouded his mind. From the front he technically would be able to leave quicker, the way out was shorter. Well, too late to change his mind now.   
He shoved his books and notebook off the table, letting them fall into his open bag, wincing as one of the books slipped past his bag and hit the floor with a loud thump. Swallowing heavily, he looked up, glancing around to see if anyone noticed, but no one seemed to care, really, they were talking with each other, getting up, getting their bags and leaving the room, sticking together in small groups. Merely Gavin had turned to see what caused the sound, watching Simon for a moment, before looking forward again as Richard placed one hand in the middle of his upper back in a quite affectionate fashion, gently leading him along with himself. The blonde closed his eyes for a moment in relief, letting out a silent sigh, then he knelt down, picking up his book and hurriedly stuffing it into his bag before getting up and throwing it over his shoulder, holding onto one of the straps as he made his way towards the front.   
“Mr. Parson-Lambert”  
Simon stopped dead in his tracks, then slowly turned towards the teacher’s desk, looking at Mrs. Porter.  
“…Yes?”, he asked carefully.  
“If you don’t want to end up in a situation of having to repeat this year a second time, you should maybe refrain from sleeping in my class”, she said, leaning on her desk slightly.  
“I wasn’t-“  
“I know what you kids are thinking. You’ll never need any of this math stuff again, so why should you even try to act like you care to listen. But you chose this course. So you have to pay attention, I don’t care what it was like in your old school, but here you receive grades on your behaviour and participation in class”, she continued harshly.  
Simon looked down and away slightly, arms wrapped around himself.   
“I didn’t-“, again she cut him off.  
“Do you understand?”, her voice had lost all the sweetness and friendliness it had held at the beginning of the lesson.   
Simon glanced at her, then looked away again, wrapping his arms tighter around himself and biting the inside of his cheek slightly. He felt his throat tighten, his heart beating as if it wanted to jump right out of his chest, he could feel his blood pumping through his ears even, heard the rhythmic pulsating loudly over everything else.   
“Yes…”, he just mumbled, the word almost got stuck in his throat.  
He just wanted to get out get some fresh air, alone, away from everybody.  
No – better, find Daniel. Find Daniel, get to him, he would help. Just seeing him would help.  
Mrs. Parson nodded now.   
“Fine. Go have your break, Simon”, she said, turning to the paperwork on her desk again.   
He nodded, then turned around, hastily making his way out of the classroom, pushing one hand through his hair, his fingers shaking slightly. Simon pushed through the crowd of students, head kept down as he made his way towards his locker. A buzzing in his pocket and the high-pitched ding of his phone’s message tone snapped him out of it, made him stop and take out his phone.   
_’Come outside, there’s a place with like picknick tables, we’re all sitting there’_  
Daniel. Simon sighed softly in relief, looking at the text for a moment, then he put his phone away again, rushing the last few steps to his locker, opening it and quickly exchanging his books, best not to carry around too much, the heavier your bag, the slower you ended up being. He gave the locker door a nudge once he was done, closing it again and staying still for a moment, just looking at the closed locker.

Markus was standing in his usual group in the hallway, by his locker, his friends, most part of the student council, around him. Josh, probably his best friend, president of the human rights club and a human rights activist in general, Lucy, the co-president of the student council, Kara and her boyfriend Luther, they had been part of the council with him from the start, she was the only one not in his year, she was a year younger, and Alice, Kara’s little sister, she would most likely be hanging out with them from now on, she just got into the school. And then there was North, Markus was leaning against the wall with his arm wrapped around her, she leant her head against his shoulder. They had been a couple for a while, she was enthusiastic, strong, captain and founder of the school’s all-girls wrestling team and a woman’s rights activist outside of school. All of his friends were engaged in further activities, if it were just the student council, or further groups in or outside of school dealing with politics or humanitarian organisations. All of them, without exception, saw activism as an important past of their lives they wouldn’t want to miss.   
But right now, activism was not something Markus was thinking about. He had spotted Simon, across the hall, standing by his locker. His posture was one Markus only knew to describe as anxious, paranoid, maybe, kind of hunched over himself, arms wrapped around his own, slim frame as he fluidly pushed himself out of the way of every other student doing just as much as implying to get close to him, almost reflexively wincing away from every possible touch.  
“What are you thinking about, Markus?”  
He looked down at North, she still had her head against his shoulder, just turned it a little, just enough to look up at him.  
“Hm? Oh…nothing, it’s not important”, he replied, gently tightening his grip around her waist, his fingers gently feeling her side.   
“Sure? I haven’t seen you that absent in a long time”, she said, pulling back a little from him to look at him properly.   
Markus sighed, looking over at Simon again, then roughly gestured towards him to move North’s attention to the boy.  
“Daniel’s twin. He just got to our school today”, he said.  
“And what about him?”, North wanted to know, putting her hand on Markus’ back, “You lead him around earlier, right?”  
Markus nodded softly.  
“Look at him. He seems…anxious”  
“He’s got his brother here, he doesn’t need you looking after him”, she argued.  
“He doesn’t have any friends here yet…and you know Daniel”, Markus sighed.   
“You’re not responsible for the wellbeing of every newbie here”, North moved in front of him, cupping his cheeks gently.   
“I’m student council president”, he looked down at her.   
North sighed softly, shaking her head lightly for a moment before placing a soft kiss in the corner of Markus’ mouth, slowly stroking over his cheekbones with her thumbs.   
“You’re not responsible”, she said again.  
Markus let out a deep sigh, then watched Simon retreat from his locker before pushing through the masses of students again, towards the exit.   
“See, he seems fine. Daniel probably called him to himself and you know Daniel has some friends that are nice enough”, she hummed, looking after the blonde as well.  
Markus closed his eyes for a moment, then pulled her a little closer and pressed his lips to her head shortly.   
“Yea, alright…you’re right…”, he mumbled, gently rubbing her back before pulling away again, “Have any of you seen my brother already today?”, he asked then, turning to the rest, pulling their attention to him.  
Lucy shook her head.  
“No, I’ve been busy. You know, I had to do your work while you were leading the new kid around”, she smiled slightly.  
“I’m sorry, Lucy”, Markus smiled slightly at her, “But thank you a lot for that”  
“No problem”, she returned his smile.  
“I haven’t seen him either. Did he even come to school today?”, Josh looked at Markus.  
“I took him along and he got out in front of the school, so he should be here”, Markus frowned a little.  
“Hey, you know Leo well enough, don’t you?”, North said then, “He’s probably skipping school again, doing whatever”, she huffed, “If you ask me the kid needs someone to kick his ass to bring his head back into the right place”  
“North”, Markus said warningly and she chuckled.  
“I know, I know, but it’s true”, she shrugged.  
Markus shook his head slightly.  
“If anyone, Rupert might have seen him, Leo’s in his year now, isn’t he?”, Kara mentioned, “He wanted to come see me with Jerry and Ralph in one of the breaks, maybe he’ll come along, then you can ask him”  
Markus nodded softly.   
“Okay. Thank you, Kara”, he smiled.  
She returned his smile.  
“You’re welcome”

The schoolyard wasn’t less crowded than the hallways, but Simon managed to spot the place Daniel had so briefly described fairly soon. Not lastly because his twin’s hair was practically glowing golden in the sun. He was sitting at one of the picknick tables, some other people with him. Simon recognized Gavin and Richard, sitting across from Daniel, awfully close to each other, as he got closer he could even see Richard laying his arm around Gavin’s shoulder, holding him to himself. Connor was there, sitting right beside Daniel, leaning on the table with a bright smile on his face as he talked to his friends and there was…another Connor? A boy that looked just like him, merely wearing different clothes. His twin, maybe? Maybe they were the ones Markus had mentioned earlier. He was sitting beside Richard, right across from Daniel. And lastly there were two girls, one with longer, blue hair that was tied back into a lazy ponytail, the other had short, brown orange-ish hair, they were sitting close to each other, shoulders touching, maybe one was leaning against each other.  
“Sy!”, Daniel’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.   
Simon looked over at his brother, who had his eyes fixed on him. He walked over slowly, while Daniel made some space beside him, making Connor scoot over, the blue haired girl climbed into the other one’s lap, loosely wrapping her arms around her neck to make more space for them. Simon could feel all their eyes on him as he moved to them and sat down on the bench next to his brother, putting down his bag and shortly shifting his gaze over to Connor, who now gave him a bright smile.  
“Alright, let me introduce you”, Daniel said, “You met Connor earlier already”  
Simon nodded softly, smiling a little as Connor waved to him.  
“That’s Conan, Connor’s twin”, Daniel pointed to the boy now right across from Simon.  
Conan rose his hand in a lazy greeting manner, then crossed his arms again. He seemed a lot more serious than his brother, a lot colder. Simon gave him a soft smile either way.  
“Then Richard, Connor’s and Conan’s younger brother”  
Simon nodded at that.  
“Yea, I’ve met Richard and Gavin already”, he said, “They’re in my maths course”  
Daniel looked at his brother, raising an eyebrow before glancing over at Richard and Gavin.   
“Oh, alright then…”, he frowned at the two, “Why didn’t you bring him along then?”  
Richard shrugged.  
“How were we supposed to know you’d want him with us?”, Gavin asked then, he was leaning against Richard, his arms crossed, resting into his soft embrace.   
“Come on, he’s my brother”, Daniel looked at the two.  
“Brothers don’t always get along”, Gavin growled.  
Simon frowned a little at that and looked at Daniel, but he just shook his head.  
“Long story”  
“Not that long, actually. My half-brother’s a prick”, Gavin huffed, Simon could see him clenching his jaws together, but as Richard gently rubbed along his shoulder he seemed to relax again, letting out a sigh.   
“Well, Sy will be hanging with us from now on”, Daniel said, then gave Simon an encouraging smile, which he tried his best to return.  
Then Daniel turned towards the two girls of the group slightly.   
“Anyways. These are Traci and Amy”, the girls each raised a hand in a soft greeting as their names were said, first the brown haired, then the blue haired.   
“There are three more in our group”, Daniel explained then, “But they often hang out with the Williams girl and her friends. Though I’m sure you’ll meet them soon enough, two of them are in your year, the other one’s a year younger”, Daniel looked up towards Richard and Gavin again, “Maybe you can introduce him to Ralph and Jerry later, you’re gonna see them in English later on, right?”  
Gavin just shrugged.   
“No idea, maybe I don’t know what classes they have”, Gavin rolled his eyes slightly.  
“We’ll most likely see them”, Richard said now, “We’ll take care of him a little,”, he added then, looking at Daniel.   
Daniel nodded.   
“Thank you”, he let out a soft sigh, then smiled at Simon, “My friends are all really nice, you’ll fit right in”   
Simon smiled slightly at Daniel.   
“Yea…thanks, Daniel…”   
Daniel returned his brother’s smile, then hugged him shortly, wrapping one arm around him and pulling him against himself.  
“You’ll be better here”, he whispered to him quietly before letting go again.   
Simon couldn’t help but smile softly and he nodded slightly.   
“Thank you…”, he then whispered again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this one's a little shorter, but this felt like a good place to end it.
> 
> I am taking Fanfiction/One-shot requests from now on!  
> Comment on one of my fics or message me on IG: hiddlesqueen_rp if you want one  
> There's also a post on IG with some more details on this request thing, but for now;  
> You can requests ships or reader insert, give me inspiration, ideas or sentences/conversation parts you want in there or leave me to my imagination with your ship :P You can also request smut, just tell if you want it in there or not.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's a day late. I was so tired yesterday and didn't manage to finish it xD But here you go!

The break found its end far sooner than Simon would have liked. Daniel’s friends were really nice to him, he felt…welcome. For the first time in forever. Connor was really interested in him, or at least acted like he was, asking approximately a million questions Simon couldn’t all give an answer to. About his interests, about sports, Connor mentioned that he was on the track team, Simon could only tell him he had never been a very sporty person, but found comfort in arts, Daniel added that Simon used to be in drama club, to which Connor enthusiastically told him they had a drama club as well. But Simon could only turn down his offer to show him there. He didn’t immediately want to enrol in any clubs, but just find his way around the school first. He continued asking about his favourite subjects, about books, when he found out that English was one of Simon’s favourites. And he kept talking to him about those for a while and Simon became more and more comfortable in their conversation, in their company. Yet somewhere at the back of his head was an alarm bell ringing urgently, yelling at him that he was falling into a trap, pushing him to escape. But Simon forced those thoughts down, telling himself that Daniel wouldn’t let anything like that happen.  
And then Connor asked about his old school. Simon stared at him for a few seconds, then looked away, swallowing heavily.  
“My old school was…alright”, he mumbled, still looking away.  
“Simon”, Daniel said.  
He could feel his brother’s hand on his back, encouragingly rubbing along it, then he turned to Connor again.  
“His old school was hell”, Daniel said then, “Assholes, the whole lot of them”  
Simon looked up a little, glancing over at them, almost expecting someone to start laughing, but the gazes he met were only full of empathy, especially Connor’s.  
“I’m sorry…teens can be horrible. Especially in high-school”, he said, “I’m sure we all know about that”  
Simon looked up a little more for a moment, seeing the girls look away before taking each other’s hands, holding onto one another. And Gavin turned his head away as well, though Simon noticed him scooting just that tiny bit closer to Richard, who tightened his grip around his shoulders. Now that he finally took a closer look at Gavin, he noticed a scar, slightly darker than the rest of his skin, stretching across his nose.  
“It’s better here”, Daniel assured him then, gently hugging his twin, “At least when you have friends like these”, he grinned into the group slightly.  
Simon couldn’t help a small smile creeping onto his lips as most of them nodded, Connor most eagerly, with the brightest smile splayed across his face.  
But then the bell rang, mercilessly ended their break. Gavin groaned loudly in annoyance, leaning his head back with closed eyes, sort of resting his head more on Richard’s shoulder. The girls stood up, shortly said goodbye to their friends and then left. Daniel put his hand on Simon’s back with a sigh, standing up.  
“I’ll see you later”, he said to him, then patted Connor’s shoulder gently, making him stand up with him and with another bright smile from Connor, they left, Conan following them silently.  
“Can’t we skip?”, Simon then heard Gavin saying, he was looking up at Richard, still leant against him.  
“It’s the first day. Skipping would be a bad idea”, Richard looked down at him.  
Gavin huffed.  
“I don’t care…what do you have now?”, he then wanted to know.  
“Biology”  
Gavin made a face at Richard, then rubbed his face slightly.  
“Physics”, he replied with a sigh, “We could skip and get coffee”  
Richard just shook his head, then he stood up.  
“Get to class”, he said to him, then looked over at Simon, “What do you have now?”  
Simon had gotten up by then, taking his bag, but raised his gaze to Richard again as he spoke to him.  
“Uh…Biology”, he replied then.  
Richard nodded.  
“Good, so we’re going together”  
“Richhhhh-“, Gavin whined, “Physics sucks”  
“Then you shouldn’t have taken that class”, Richard didn’t even look at him, reaching for his bag, “I’ll see you in English”, he said then, now turning to Gavin, almost moving towards him, but then he glanced at Simon, hesitated and eventually turned back completely, starting to walk off, but turning around once more and looking at Simon expectantly, nodding to him to follow him.  
Simon looked at Gavin for a few seconds, then waved to him before quickly following Richard. He glanced back as they approached the school building again, seeing Gavin grabbing his bag, aggressively swinging it over his shoulder and shoving his hands into his pockets before stomping off. The blonde bit his lip slightly, then looked at Richard again, who was walking a few steps in front of him. He hesitated, tugging at his sleeves slightly. It was warm outside, god he wanted nothing more to take off that sweater jacket, stuff it in his bag or just put it away somewhere. But nobody would want to see that, least of all Simon himself.  
His eyes lingered on his arms for a moment, then he just gripped the ends of his sleeves, clearing his throat. Richard turned his head to him, slowing down and falling back into pace by Simon’s side. Simon looked at him for a moment then crossed his arms slightly, holding onto himself.  
“What’s…that with you and Gavin?”, he looked over at Richard for a moment.  
“Huh?”, Richard rose an eyebrow, turning to him.  
Simon bit his lip, then sighed slightly.  
“I mean…are you two…together? In a relationship?”, he asked.  
He could see a small smirk forming on his lips, then Richard shrugged.  
“If you ask Gavin something like that, he’ll deny he even remotely likes me”, he laughed slightly.  
Simon looked at him, actually relieved at his calm reaction and he smiled a little.  
“But what would you say?”, he kept asking.  
Now Richard was silent for a moment, just walking beside him.  
“It seems you’ll meet Ralph and Jerry sooner than expected”, was the next thing he said, approaching a group of students, waiting in front of a classroom, talking to each other cheerfully.  
Richard walked straight up to two boys leaning against a wall, the one turned towards them gave them a bright smile as they walked over, he had brown-red-ish hair and bright green eyes.  
“Hi, Rich”, he greeted him, then looked at Simon, hesitating for a moment, “You’re not Daniel”  
The other, the blonde boy that had had his back to them before, now quickly turned at the mention of Richards name before backing up, hiding behind the smaller redhead. Simon froze as he saw his face. The left half of it was scarred, cut up, his left eye was clouded, grey, one of the scars going straight over it, blinding it.  
“Jerry”, Richard greeted him shortly, then looked at the boy behind him for a moment, letting out a sigh and shaking his head, “This is Simon. Daniel’s twin brother. He just came to our school today”  
Simon averted his gaze, not wanting to stare at the other blonde anymore and he nodded slightly.  
“Yea uh…hi”  
Jerry smiled slightly, reaching back and gently grabbing the hand of the boy behind himself.  
“This is Ralph”, he said then, “Sorry he’s…scared of Richard”, Jerry added, glancing at Richard and offering him an apologetic smile, but he just shrugged, as if he was very much used to it.  
“Hi”, Simon said again, smiling and waving softly at Ralph, who slowly seemed to calm down.  
“…Hello”, Ralph said, lifting his free hand in a short greeting, then he let it sink back down, almost letting out something like a quiet whine before resting his chin on Jerry’s shoulder and wrapping his arm around his middle.  
Simon watched them and smiled softly, just watching those small gestures, those oh so tiny touches of pure affection sent warmth into his heart, tingles in his stomach as if he was being held like that, as if he was experiencing it. Usually even more so if he got to see two guys so carelessly, so comfortably together. It gave him hope for better times. Jerry reached up with his free hand, turning his head a little to Ralph and gently cupping his cheek, the blonde calmly closed his eyes, smiling contently at the loving touch. Simon looked Richard, seeing that he had turned away from them completely and now moved to push past them. He followed his gaze, spotting the teacher strutting past the group of students and then straight towards the classroom door, unlocking it. Simon glanced at Jerry and Ralph again, they didn’t quite seem to notice.  
“…The…teacher’s there”, Simon told them then.  
Ralph opened his eyes again, looking up, then slightly made a face, sighing and pulling back from Jerry, who then turned around to him.  
“I’ll see you in English”, he said softly to him, cupping both his cheeks lovingly.  
Simon bit his lip, walking past them to follow the rest of the class into the room, not really wanting to stare or interrupt them. He looked around, looking for Richard before quickly following him to the back of the class. He swallowed heavily, hesitating, but then speaking up.  
“Can I sit here?”, he asked him, standing by the desk right beside the one Richard had chosen for himself.  
The brunette looked at him, raising an eyebrow, then he shrugged.  
“I’m not gonna stop you”, he said, reaching for his bag to bring out his books.  
Simon looked at him, then sat down, looking around the room and shifting in his seat slightly as he reached for his things as well, laying his books and writing materials out on the desk. He breathed out heavily, pushing a hand through his hair when something else caught his attention. Ralph, who had entered the classroom last, walked over to them, sitting beside Simon, then turning to him.  
“It’s alright if I sit beside you, is it?”, he asked carefully.  
Simon looked at him and smiled gently.  
“It’s alright”, he said, earning a genuine smile from the other. 

Connor let out a sigh once the bell rang, feeling Daniel pat his shoulder gently and they stood up together. He grabbed his bag, stepped away from the table and flashed Simon another smile before turning to leave, Daniel by his side and Conan following close behind them.  
“I like your brother”, Connor hummed then, linking his arm with Daniel’s, “You should’ve introduced me to him earlier”, he chuckled.  
“You know why I didn’t…”, Daniel replied quietly, pulling his arm out of Connor’s grip carefully.  
Connor looked at him and sighed, shrugging slightly.  
“I know”, he said, “Don’t you think it’s time, though?”  
“No”, Daniel glanced at him, then quickened his steps, entering the school building before him.  
Connor watched him, then glanced at his brother for a moment before following Daniel inside. They had English next up, when Connor arrived at his classroom and turned to look at Conan again, he wasn’t there anymore. He looked around, then shook his head slightly. Conan probably had a different teacher, another classroom…of course he’d just leave without a word.  
The classroom door stood open, the other students must have been inside already, he assumed, jogging the last few steps over to the room, preparing to apologize for being late, but once he reached the door, he saw the teacher wasn’t there yet. He frowned a little, looking around the room, spotting Daniel way in the back and some more faces he knew. Markus and Josh from student council, both sitting by the window, Amy, in the back as well, near Daniel and…Luther, was his name? He knew his girlfriend, Kara, but him not so much, though from what he’d heard of him, he seemed nice enough.  
Connor looked at Daniel for a few seconds, then turned and walked over to an empty desk in the front of the class, his usual seat, right up close to the teacher’s desk. He put down his bag before neatly placing his books and writing materials on the desk, stacking his books on the top right of the table, notebook in the middle, his pencil case further up and a single pen and a pencil off to the side, pushing everything as tidy and straight as possible into its place, smiling softly once he was done and leaning back in his chair a little. The teacher was still missing, not a trace of him, the other students didn’t seem to mind much, chatting and laughing with each other.  
He turned around, looking at the class for a moment.  
“Five more minutes and we’re allowed to go”, he heard someone out of the middle of the group say.  
Connor rolled his eyes slightly, turning back to the front, though he noticed Markus and Josh, off to his side, chuckling at the student’s claims.  
“Not fucking true”, someone else said.  
“Duh, is true!”, the other replied again.  
Connor could only shake his head, looking to the front, his hands folded on the desk before him.  
“No, but seriously. Markus, you’ve been acting off the whole day”, that was certainly Josh’s voice.  
Connor turned his head towards them just a little bit, his curiosity spiked. He heard a deep sigh, then there was a pause.  
“God, you’re all so sensible…”, Markus replied to his friend, “I’m fine, alright?”  
“Something wrong with North?”, Josh asked then and again there was a short pause.  
“No, everything’s good with her. I’m good. She’s good, everything’s going fine”, Connor could hear the annoyance in Markus’ voice.  
Connor resisted the urge to turn his head and look at them to follow their conversation better, to concentrate on theirs instead of the other voices filling the room.  
“Just…Leo, okay? I worry about him”, Markus continued then.  
“Really? Why?”  
“You heard Rupert earlier. Leo didn’t show up to class, I don’t know where he went, I brought him here and now he just…left?”, Markus lowered his voice a little, Connor leant back a little more in his seat to still be able to hear them properly, tipping his chair back slightly even.  
“Come on, you know Leo well enough. We all do”, Josh let out a sigh, “You’re gonna either find him passed out high at home later or sitting by your car completely stoned or whatever”  
“Exactly, and that’s what worries me”, Markus huffed.  
Connor turned his head a little, glancing over at them out of the corner of his eyes, when a small group of students right beside him started laughing with each other, drowning out the voices he was so intent on hearing.  
“…can’t be all”, he still heard Josh say as he leant back a little further.  
Too late Connor noticed his chair slipping, the two legs that had still been on the floor now scraping along it, sending him along with the chair to the floor. His eyes widened, arms stretching out, desperately reaching for the desk in front of him, fingertips brushing against the wood, before his head came into harsh contact with the merciless floor while the chair crashed down loudly. For a moment there was silence in the classroom, then some of the students broke out into laughter, Connor just stared up at the ceiling for a moment, blinking as his head buzzed in pain. He glanced to the side, seeing Markus and Josh looking over at him, Josh with as much surprise as Markus had worry in his eyes. Connor closed his eyes for a moment, trying to ignore that everything was spinning. He heard a chair scooting over the floor somewhere at the back of the room, expected to hear steps out of the same direction, but then they came from the front.  
“Hey, Hey, the fuck’s going on here?”, a loud, gruff voice said.  
The teacher, it must be, it sounded way too deep, too…mature for a student. Connor lifted his head a little, seeing the blurry frame of a man standing by the front, tall with greying hair, that’s about all Connor could make out right then.  
“Goddamnit, what the hell are you doing?? I can’t have an injured student on my first fucking day”, he growled, walking over and reaching down, gripping Connor by his shoulders and pulling him up, “You alright, kid?”  
Connor blinked a few times again until his field of view cleared up, the face of the man before him sharpening until those blue orbs right in front of him slowly took the shape of eyes. He stared at him for a moment before swallowing heavily.  
“I’m fine”, he mumbled then.  
“He should go see the nurse”, Daniel’s voice left a ringing in Connor’s ears, but the brunette just shook his head, turning to look at his friend.  
“I’m fine”, he repeated, louder this time.  
The teacher looked at him for another few seconds, then he pulled him up properly, straightening up his chair and sitting him down in it again.  
“You better be. If you get dizzy or feel sick, say something and I’ll have you brought to the nurse”, he said.  
Connor nodded, looking at him.  
“Thank you”, he said, pulling his chair up closer to his desk again and leaning on it slightly.  
The teacher watched him shortly, then nodded and made his way to the front desk with a heavy sigh.  
“Alright then…after this…eventful start”, he began, setting his bag down by the desk and glancing back at Connor once again, “Welcome to advanced English. I’ll be your teacher this year, my name is Mr. Anderson”  
He took his seat at the desk, leaning back.  
“As you may have noticed, I’m new to this school. And no, you will not get a backstory out of me. I’d rather start with the lesson, I was late already and we don’t need to waste any more time”, he said then, reaching into his bag and soon loudly placing a few books onto his desk.  
“You might know, we’re starting with Romeo and Juliet this year, a classic. I expect you to have the book by next week, preferably by our next lesson”  
Connor watched him, leaning on his elbows slightly and tilting his head to the side a little. Mr. Anderson’s hair swayed lightly with every movement, it went just barely past his ears, the blonde-brown-ish hair already greying out, even though he must’ve been…what, in his mid-thirties? Not much older than that, certainly. He started talking, something about Shakespeare, about the topic of Romeo and Juliet, asking what they knew already. And Connor kept on raising his hand, answering all the questions he could, and he knew a lot, eager to keep his good grades. He relished every second he looked at him, enjoying the teacher’s attention more than he probably should.  
By the end of the lesson he was more of a dreamy mess than anything else, waiting an extra minute until he started slowly packing up his stuff, the rest of the class had started getting up and leaving already, Connor glanced up, looking around shortly and spotting Daniel by the door, looking at him and waiting with crossed arms. Connor waved shortly to him and turned his gaze to Mr. Anderson for a second before looking at Daniel once again, who now rolled his eyes and left…and then Connor was alone with their new English teacher.  
He straightened up, fixing his shirt a little and picked up his bag, walking up to the front desk.  
“Mr. Anderson?”, he hummed, smiling as he looked up and looked over at him.  
The teacher sighed, closing his eyes for a second, then looked up at him again.  
“Yes…?”  
“Connor. Connor Ray-Knight”, he smiled at the older man, “With our old English teacher…I used to help him with lesson preparations, and during lessons I acted as a second teacher to take some pressure off him, explaining stuff to other students”  
“So you’re a teacher’s pet”, Mr. Anderson rose an eyebrow.  
“If you want to call it that”, Connor looked at him, “Our old teacher greatly appreciated it”  
The other sighed once again, leaning back a little.  
“I can manage on my own just fine, thanks…”, he looked at him, “How’s your head?”, he wanted to know then.  
Connor smiled a little, raising his hand to lightly touch the back of his head.  
“Fine. Doesn’t hurt too much anymore…normal headache, nothing more”, he replied.  
“Go see the nurse, kid. And stop bothering me, alright”, Mr. Anderson looked at him.  
Connor smirked a little, taking a few steps back.  
“See you tomorrow, Mr. Anderson”, he hummed, then turned around and left the room, though glanced back towards his teacher once more as he stood in the hallway, seeing him grabbing a flask from the pocket of his jacket and taking a long swig from it.  
His smile faded slightly and he bit his lip a little, then he left.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long, school's been stressful and my mental health's been getting worse again ehhhhh  
> have fun w this xD

Simon’s days soon enough fell back into a routine he didn’t know he’d missed. Wake up at six thirty, breakfast by quarter to seven, leave the house at quarter past to arrive school for class before seven thirty. Daniel drove them, and for the first few days brought Emma to her classrooms, Simon quickly found his way around by himself, he had to, but it became easier as soon as Daniel started parking his car right next to Connor’s. From then on Richard took him along, they mostly had the same classes and they got along rather well, and in a lot of classes, Ralph or Jerry, or both of them, and in some Gavin was with them as well. It was almost as if Simon was never alone…and it was exactly what he needed.  
He met Rupert, the youngest out of Daniel’s friend group, the only one in year ten, and basically a Disney princess. The first time Simon met him, in the first big break on his second day, Rupert came marching towards them with a bird sitting on his shoulder, eating seeds right out of his hand. And it stayed, until the end of the break, when Rupert gently picked it up with one hand and gave him a nudge towards the sky and it flew off. Simon was impressed, to say the least, it was truly magical, basically.  
After his first English lesson on Wednesday, he had hopes for his former favourite subject to return to said position. His teacher, Mr. Anderson, was a little rough, but fun. He didn’t really care what people thought of him and spoke to them in a way no other teacher would, he treated them like adults, he didn’t look down at them, like most other teachers did. And he was one of the few teachers showing actual, honest interest in their subject.  
Still, Simon couldn’t help but notice his longing, yet almost apathetic gazes towards the clock hanging just over the door when they were working, when he thought no one would see…and Simon could only think that he had just the same expression on his face, not that long ago, if he even dared to raise his head. And he still would, were he still stuck in his old school, with those people. So he couldn’t help but wonder what hell Mr. Anderson was stuck in.  
A week passed, the breaks and free lessons became Simon’s favourite time. To think they ever would, when he used to hide, lock himself in bathroom stalls and hope no one would find him during those times, when he used to hate them like no other time of day. He sat with Daniel’s friends. With the Ray-Knights, Richard was with him in all of his free lessons except for one, he had French, Simon didn’t. But Jerry and Ralph and the girls were with him in that lesson. Ralph was a little quirky, but nice and Jerry and him were an adorable couple, sweet and…innocent, both of them. Just seeing them together made Simon feel all warm inside.  
But in the breaks, they usually spent time with a different group, or, with Kara, mostly, as Simon had heard. Yet there, he had his brother.  
Daniel would always, without fail, come to sit right beside him.  
“How was English?”, Daniel asked, plopping down beside him, biting into half a sandwich, “You’re with Anderson, too, right?”  
Simon looked up, scooting over a little to make more space for him, inching closer to Connor.  
“Yea…he’s cool”, Simon bit his lip slightly, “He’s a good teacher”  
“He’s fascinating, isn’t he?”, Connor jumped in with a bright smile, leaning on the table and looking over at them.  
Simon saw Daniel roll his eyes and lean back to get more comfortable in his seat as he turned around to face Connor.  
“He’s uh…interesting. Seems like he’s actually interested in his subject”, Simon said, “Does everyone have him in English now?”  
“I don’t”, Conan mentioned.  
Simon was honestly surprised, not to say shocked when Connor’s twin spoke up. To be perfectly honest, at times he forgot he was even there. Conan wasn’t the talkative type, pretty much the opposite of Connor. He listened, rarely commented, mostly it seemed like he wasn’t even remotely interested in what any of them had to say. For the most part he sat in silence, ate something or did some homework. And if he did speak up, it was usually some type of judgemental comment about something Connor or Gavin said. Not rarely that ended in Richard having to keep the smaller boy from jumping up and starting a fight with his brother. Connor, on the other hand, usually rather ignored or merely smiled at his twin’s remarks.  
“But I’ve heard enough about him”, Conan continued then, giving Connor a glare, which the other simply shrugged off.  
“I love the lessons with him”, Connor said, turned to Simon again.  
“You love getting his attention and do absolutely everything for it”, Daniel growled, looking away and shoving the rest of his sandwich into his mouth.  
“He likes getting every teacher’s attention”, Richard noted now.  
Simon’s gaze wandered over to them, Richard, as usual, had his arm lazily slung across Gavin’s shoulders, sometimes Simon got the impression they were glued together like that, whenever he saw them together, they were exactly like that. Gavin leant against him, his back propped up against the taller boy’s side, his feet placed up on the bench he was sitting on, Richard’s arm hung over Gavin’s shoulder while he was eating.  
“Sure”, Daniel said, rolling his eyes slightly, “But he wants their attention for good grades. He-“  
“I want a good grade in English, too”, Connor cut him off.  
Daniel glared over at the dark-haired boy, then turned to him more.  
“But you want _his_ attention because you think he’s hot”, Daniel snapped, Simon almost winced at his tone, “He’s like 20 years older, damn it he’ll never want anything to do with you outside class”  
Simon saw Connor’s smile fade at the harsh tone his friend had taken to, then he looked away before standing up, mumbling an “excuse me”, as he climbed over the bench, pushing past Simon as he stepped away from the table and quickly walked off. The glares Daniel got from both of Connor’s brothers for that were practically lethal.  
“Was that really necessary?”, Amy asked, leaning on the table and frowning over at Daniel, but the blonde just turned away, crossing his arms.  
Simon frowned widely, he’d never seen Daniel like this before, never heard something like that from him. He bit his lip, looked down, he couldn’t say anything.  
Amy huffed, then she stood up, gently pulling her girlfriend up with herself and they walked off, following Connor. Daniel let out a heavy sigh as they left.  
“Great”, he mumbled, then shook his head and stood up as well, “I’ll get to class. See you later, Sy”  
Daniel grabbed his bag, then walked off in the opposite direction from the rest.  
Simon looked around for a moment, then over at Richard, Gavin and Conan. He was alone with them now.  
“What…was that?”, he asked.  
Richard looked at him, just shaking his head, Conan was visibly uninterested and Gavin didn’t even seem to listen.  
“Forget about it. I know they will, by tomorrow”, he said, shrugging, “Happens sometimes”  
Simon frowned a little and looked down again shortly.  
The bell rang. Richard looked at Gavin for a short while as he didn’t seem to care to move.  
“Reed”, he said, trying to get his attention, but Gavin merely leant his head back against his shoulder, glancing towards him.  
“You have politics now, if I recall correctly”, Richard continued.  
By then Conan had already gotten up and left them.  
“Polisucks”, Gavin just commented, nestling more into the taller one’s embrace.  
“Do we have to go through this every day?”, Richard sighed, then he looked up, “Simon. Would you take him along? Make sure he actually goes to class. I have French now”  
“Amusez-vous avec les enculés.”, Gavin smirked slightly, sitting up and turning to him.  
“Your memorized Google Translate-French doesn’t impress me, Gavin”, Richard noted and stood up, grabbing his bag, “I’ll see you later”  
He placed his hand on his shoulder, letting it linger and gently stroke along his shoulders as he walked by him and towards the school building. Gavin sighed, looking after him, then he turned to look at Simon.  
“So it’s just us, huh?”  
Simon shrugged, standing and swinging his bag over his shoulder, biting his lip for a moment before he dared to speak up.  
“Come on. We’ll be late if we don’t go now”, he said, looking at the other.  
Gavin rose an eyebrow, then sighed and arose from the bench, walking towards the main building with his bag lazily hanging off his shoulder. Simon quickly fell into pace just behind him. 

He didn’t see Daniel again for the rest of the school day. He didn’t show up in the next break, neither did Connor, but Daniel stayed missing during the lunch break. Usually over the past week, Daniel would catch him by the food counters and then take him along to his friends. Now, with Daniel not showing up, Simon couldn’t help but feel lost. He got his food, always looking over his shoulder, his eyes almost frantically scanning the room for that familiar frame. But nothing. When he finally turned around with his tray, letting his gaze wander once more and he still couldn’t spot his twin, his heart sunk altogether. A room full of students, noise filling his ears, his mind, seemingly getting louder and louder until there was only static left and he could do nothing but stare straight ahead, eyes twitching around the room. He was frozen in place while memories flooded him, students turning their heads to him when he entered a room, whispering to each other about him, throwing words and comments at his head that made him wince, sometimes literally throwing stuff at his head, from behind or some even while he was looking right at them. If they missed, or if he dared to dodge, some were merciful enough to just throw again, but most would seek a more direct approach, so he was forced to learn to stop dodging, to take the hit, even if it was food.  
Someone bumped into him, Simon winced heavily and jumped aside as everything crashed down on him again. Suddenly there was noise again, students talking, laughing together, having fun. And Simon stood by the end of the cafeteria counter, clutching onto his tray for dear life. The person that had bumped into him gave him a strange look, then he continued on his way, joining his friends at their table in the back of the cafeteria.  
Simon let out a shaky sigh, looking down at his lunch and trying to steady his hands, gripping his tray and taking a few steps backwards until his back hit the counter once more. He took a moment, just standing there and calming himself down, until he finally felt ready to actually move again. He rose his head again, swallowing heavily and looking around the cafeteria when soon enough another face sprung into his eye. Connor, way at the back, he was looking over at him way over the heads of all the other students, smiling and motioning him to come over. Simon could feel the corners of his mouth twitch and he took a step forward, when suddenly a voice from his side stopped him.  
“Hey, Simon”  
He turned towards him, freezing in place as he met those wonderful, wondrous eyes again. An involuntary smile formed on his lips, then he looked away, biting his lip.  
“Hey”, he got himself to say as Markus stepped closer to him, carrying his own tray.  
“Trouble finding a seat?”, Markus asked then, glancing over towards the rest of the cafeteria.  
“Uh-“, Simon started, following his gaze, then he turned back to him as Markus started speaking again.  
“You can come sit with me, if you’d like. Jerry and Ralph and Rupert should be there as well, you know them, don’t you?”, Markus gave him that beautiful smile again and Simon felt his heart basically melt, a tingle welling up deep in his stomach.  
“I-uh…what about your other friends? I-I mean, you surely have a lot and I don’t want to-“, he was cut off again.  
“Most of my friends went out for lunch. Kara, Luther and Alice are still there, but they won’t mind”, he chuckled softly, “I don’t think any of my friends would mind, anyway”  
Simon looked at him for a long while, the lightest smile lingering on his lips.  
“Okay…let’s go sit down, then”, he said softly.  
Markus smiled as well, turning to lead him to the table he usually sat at. On their way there, his eyes once more caught Connor, still standing up, watching him, now with a slightly confused frown lining his face. Simon did his best to provide him an apologetic smile, shrugging his shoulders lightly as he continued following Markus. Just as he turned his head back to the male before him, he noticed Connor’s expression loosen up, a smile replacing the frown on his face as he sat back down. Markus put his tray down on the table once they arrived, shortly greeting his friends before motioning those beside him to scoot over a little to make some space, so Simon could sit beside him. Simon smiled at them gently, the smile brightening as he saw the pure joy spreading on Ralph’s face upon spotting him.  
“Simon!”, he said happily.  
Simon let out a soft chuckle.  
“Hello, Ralph”, he said, smiling and sitting down right beside Markus, then he looked at Jerry and Rupert with a smile, which they returned, and lastly he leant over the table a little to look over at Kara, Luther and Alice.  
He’d seen Kara before, she was in some of his classes. The tall, dark-skinned boy beside her, Luther, most likely, was probably older, Simon had never seen him before. Alice, a little girl sitting on Kara’s other side, was about Emma’s age, and she looked up at Simon with a friendly smile.  
“Hi”, Kara said softly, waving softly to him.  
Simon smiled gently at them, then looked at Markus, who returned his smile.  
“How was your first week?”, he wanted to know then.  
Simon looked at Markus.  
“It was…alright…better”, Simon replied, looking down and turning to his food.  
“Better?”, Markus asked.  
Simon froze for a second.  
“My…than my-”  
“It’s okay, forget it”  
Simon glanced at Markus, seeing his gentle, understanding smile and returning with a just as thankful one.  
“The first week’s been good…the teachers are…most of them are nice”, he smiled slightly, shuffling in his seat a little before he started eating.  
“You’ve spent a lot of time with Daniel’s group, right?”, Markus kept asking, “They’re nice. Seems like you’ve arrived here rather well”  
Simon couldn’t help a small smile.  
“I…feel like I have”, he looked at Markus, then looked down again, feeling his face heat up again as he kept feeling Markus’ gaze on him, never leaving him.  
He bit his lip and closed his eyes for a moment, trying to suppress the blush that was welling up on his face, then he looked up once more, looking at Jerry and Ralph.  
“You’re…You’re not sitting with Connor and the rest?”, he asked then.  
Jerry shook his head, moving a little, taking Ralph’s hand under the table.  
“Why not?”, Simon wanted to know.  
“Richard”, Jerry replied, while Ralph averted his gaze from them.  
Simon watched Ralph for a moment, then looked at Jerry again.  
“Why is he so scared of him? I have the feeling Richard is really nice…I mean, yea he kind of looks scary when you first meet him, he’s so tall…but, still”, Simon looked at them.  
“When they were in grade seven, Richard beat Ralph up pretty badly”, Markus said shortly.  
Simon’s eyes widened slightly.  
“What? Why?”, he stared at Markus, then at Jerry and Ralph again.  
“He wanted to protect Connor”, Jerry explained.  
“Protect? I don’t think Ralph could actually- “  
“He got too close”, Ralph mumbled, “He got to close and Ralph-“, he paused, this happened occasionally, when Ralph was stressed, he fell back into what was apparently an old habit of speaking about himself in third person, but usually, like now, he noticed, caught and corrected himself, “I…needed to protect myself…I had my knife…”  
Simon stared at the boy for a moment. He wasn’t quite sure whether he should feel sorry for him or question why he was carrying a knife in seventh grade. Then something else sprung into his mind and his eyes widened.  
“Wait- Is that where those scars-“  
“No, no. No”, Jerry quickly cut him off, “That’s not where the scars are from…those were there before already”  
The redhead turned to his boyfriend, gently reaching out and cupping his cheek, the scarred side even. For some reason Simon had expected Ralph to wince and move away from his touch, but somehow, whenever it was Jerry touching him, Ralph never even flinched.  
Simon sighed softly and shook his head.  
“I’m sorry”, he then told Ralph, who slowly looked up and gave Simon a slight smile.  
“It’s okay”, he said, “I got better after that”  
“The school provided him a therapist and got him away from his family. Ralph’s basically been a different person since then”, Markus explained shortly and Ralph nodded with a small smile.  
Simon got himself to a small smile as well.  
“That’s good”, he said softly, letting out a sigh and looking down at his food, continuing to eat.  
“Simon”, another voice beside him then suddenly caught his attention.  
He lifted his head, turned his gaze to the figure standing beside the table and he quickly swallowed his food as he saw his brother.  
“Daniel! Where were you?”, he asked him quickly.  
Daniel was looking at Markus for a moment, frowning widely, then looked down at Simon again.  
“I had to do some school stuff. I thought you’d wait for me”, he replied, frowning still.  
“I was waiting”, Simon mumbled.  
“Sorry, Daniel, I kind of kidnapped him”, Markus explained then with a smile that made Simon’s heart melt as soon as he looked at him.  
Daniel didn’t seem to react any similar to it, he crossed his arms, glaring at Markus before lowering his gaze to Simon once again.  
“Come on, Simon”, he said then.  
Instantly, Simon was pulled from his trance and turned back to Daniel.  
“What?”  
“I said come on”, Daniel grabbed his arm, pulling him up, Simon could just barely pick up his tray before Daniel pulled him away.  
Simon looked at Markus over his shoulder, catching his confused gaze as he was pulled away.  
“Daniel!”, Simon then finally protested and his brother stopped, turning around to him.  
“Why didn’t you just go to sit with Connor when you didn’t find me? I would’ve come there sooner or later”  
“I wanted to!”, Simon said, “And then Markus came and asked if I wanted to sit with him and his friends, what’s wrong with that?”  
“ _He’s_ wrong with that! We hate him, okay?”, Daniel said, frowning at him.  
“Why? He’s really nice”, Simon glanced back towards Markus again.  
Daniel huffed.  
“He made Connor and Conan lose their jobs. They were hall monitors, they were happy with it and getting paid for it and if anyone needs the money, it’s them. And Markus made the school fire them and erase their position – it’s hard enough for Connor and his brothers to get by”, he explained.  
Once more, Simon looked at Markus.  
“I…can’t imagine he would’ve known how much they needed that. He wouldn’t have”  
“You don’t know him, Simon”, Daniel sighed, “He’s _not_ nice, okay? Stay away from him. I don’t want you getting hurt”  
Simon looked at his brother, then let out a sigh and nodded defeatedly.  
“Alright, fine…”, he mumbled.  
Daniel nodded.  
“Go sit with Connor and the others for the rest of the break. I’ll go home early…not feeling too well. Connor will drive you home later”, he said, looking at his brother for another moment before turning and walking off.  
And Simon couldn’t help but look towards Markus yet again.


	5. Chapter 5

Throughout the rest of the week, Simon kept on finding himself stopping at the clubs board, not rarely just staring at the theatre club poster so intently, he’d memorized its contents by the end of the week. Meetings Fridays at 4 pm, stage open for all talents, actors, dancers, musicians, authors, composers, poets welcome. And the colour scheme of the poster kept on catching his attention, rainbows always did. Sure, this had nothing to do with LGBT, still it made him feel…welcome.  
He stood by it once again before the first lesson on Friday. He had a few minutes left and his classroom, the English-room was close by. His gaze was fixed to the big, white letters jumping out from their colourful background. “Drama Club”, he read again and again, occasionally skimming over the Shakespeare quote right beneath it. “I am not what I am”. Weirdly fitting, coming from an antagonist, perfectly fitting into the deeper frame of Othello. It was certainly not Simon’s favourite play, not even his favourite Shakespeare play, by far not, but he enjoyed it nonetheless.  
“You gonna join?”, he suddenly heard a voice right beside him and he winced, turning and looking right at Gavin.  
“Uh- I…”, Simon bit his lip slightly.  
“I wouldn’t”, Gavin smirked, “Drama’s gay. Just look at the flyer”  
He snickered slightly, arms crossed as he stood beside him. Simon almost stared at him for a moment.  
“You literally have a boyfriend, Gavin”, he said.  
The amused grin disappeared from the boy’s face as he turned to Simon.  
“The fuck you talking about?! I’m not gay!”, Gavin protested.  
“Richard”, Simon just replied.  
“Richard’s a prick”, Gavin said, “What the hell makes you think I like him?”  
Simon blinked at him a few times, images of Gavin leaning into Richard, them holding onto each other every single day since he’d com here and probably long before already, of constant, short glances both gave each other, as if they couldn’t keep their eyes off each other, of those rare times Simon caught Richard pressing his lips to the side of Gavin’s head and the smaller boy smiling contently at that tiny display of affection, flashing before his eyes.  
“Well, I don’t know…”, Simon mumbled and rose an eyebrow, then looked away as Gavin turned to him with a wide frown on his face.  
Simon bit his lip slightly, turning ang looking around shortly, nudging Gavin as he spotted Mr. Anderson walking towards the group of students that had bundled up in front of their classroom. Gavin turned around as well then, lingering in place for a moment though before he huffed.  
“Man, I really don’t get what the fuck Connor sees in that guy”, he mumbled as he started to walk.  
Simon’s gaze snapped back to the poster once more, but then he quickly followed Gavin.  
“I mean, just look at him, he’s fuckin’ old”, Gavin continued.  
“Are you sure Connor really sees anything at all in him?”, Simon bit his lip slightly.  
“Have you even listened to him once this week?”, Gavin looked at him, raising an eyebrow.  
Simon shrugged.  
“Sure, but good teachers are admirable…they’re doing their job right if they can inspire you and that’s what Mr. Anderson does”, he said.  
“Fuck, don’t tell me you’re into him, too”, Gavin turned to him.  
“What?”, Simon’s eyes widened, “No. I’m not- I’m…I’m not…gay”, he added quietly.  
A sharp pain struck his chest as he heard himself say that. He hated having to say stuff like that, having to deny it like that, but he saw no other option. No, not even that, he was used, programmed to it, almost.  
Gavin merely shrugged.  
“If you say so”  
Simon hesitated, holding back the question that had been itching him since he got there. But Gavin seemed to notice his gaze.  
“What?”, he asked.  
Simon bit his lip, watching Mr. Anderson unlock the classroom door.  
“Is Connor-“, he was cut off as Richard joined them, wrapping his arm around Gavin.  
“Come on, in we go”, he said.  
Gavin looked at him, then glanced at Simon before shaking Richard’s arm off.  
“Let’s go”, Gavin said and followed the other students into the classroom.  
Richard looked after him with a wide frown, then turned to Simon, still frowning. Simon bit his lip slightly and shrugged, before hurriedly following Gavin and he moved to his seat in the back, in between Richard’s and Jerry’s. The red-haired boy smiled softly at him, as did his boyfriend, who was sitting right on his other side.  
Richard closed the door after himself as he entered, joining Simon and Gavin in the back, though Gavin rather ignored him, which earned Simon another irritated glare from the blue-eyed boy.  
Mr. Anderson sat in the front, feet rested up on the desk and covering his face with his hand, seemingly just…waiting. Until, finally, the class quieted down, most of them had taken out their stuff and looked to the front as Mr. Anderson finally let his feet down to the floor and sat up. 

Simon was one of the first to leave the classroom once they were done, rushing out and back towards the board were the club offers were displayed, glancing back towards the classroom door to make sure Gavin and Richard were still inside, that he would still be able to catch them as he fumbled his phone out of his pocket, smiling slightly as he rose it and quickly snapped a picture of the drama poster. He smiled down at the picture, then took a step back, gripping his phone to his chest and then he turned, rushing back to the classroom, just at the right time to run into Gavin and Richard leaving the room, Ralph and Jerry closely behind them.  
“What’s the smile about?”, Gavin rose an eyebrow at Simon, but the blonde just quickly shook his head.  
“Come on, let’s go”, he hummed, smiling, then turned around, walking outside. 

Connor was always looking forward to English these days. For one, because of Mr. Anderson, but the subject itself was growing on him again as well. Mr. Anderson expected a high standard from them and being able to meet it excited Connor.  
At the end of their second English lesson they’d gotten an assignment that was supposed to take about a week. Connor, not being able to keep his mind of it, completed it the same night and carried it around from then on to make sure he wouldn’t forget it and could actually hand it in on Friday.  
And when Friday came along, Connor was even more giddy than usual, so excited for his English lessons that he lost track of every lesson he had before. Maths, he spent reading over his essay once again, even though he’d done that approximately a million times already. During Biology class he kept on mentally rehearsing what exactly he was going to say when handing in his work, silently trying to figure out what was going to ensure him the longest possible conversation with his English teacher, what could provide him the best chances on finding out something about him. And then, finally, after their second break, they had English.  
Connor was waiting at the classroom five minutes before class started already. Originally, he’d hoped for Mr. Anderson to be there already, preparing for class, hoped that he’d have a minute or two alone with him to talk…or maybe even just to sit there, looking at him, but the classroom door was locked when Connor arrived. He sighed, moving and leaning with his back against the wall for a moment, taking out his phone and checking his E-mails, a small smile sneaking onto his lips when he saw the invitation to this year’s first track training and he skimmed over it quickly.  
“Hey”  
Connor looked up as he heard the familiar voice. Markus stood in front of him, hands shoved into the pockets of his long brown-beige-ish coat, smiling softly at Connor. Connor looked at him and put his phone away, returning his smile.  
“Hey…where’s Josh?”, he wanted to know then.  
“Where’s Daniel?”, Markus said, raising an eyebrow and moving to lean against the wall beside him.  
“Touché”, Connor hummed, then shrugged, “Daniel’s probably on the way here”, he replied then.  
“Josh went home. Headache”, Markus answered, smiling slightly at Connor, “You wanna come sit with me?”  
Connor rose an eyebrow at him.  
“Really? Me? Not uh…Lucy? Or maybe Luther?”, he asked.  
Markus shrugged.  
“There was a time you would have never hesitated to refuse”, Markus smirked slightly.  
“I had a massive crush on you”, Connor chuckled, “And I prefer sitting all the way at the front”, he hummed.  
“Sure”, Markus looked at him and smiled softly, “You’re into Mr. Anderson, mh?”  
Connor looked at him for a moment, then laughed softly.  
“My friends keep on annoying me for it…it’s…a crush, okay? He’s good-looking…he has a pleasant voice…and he’s interested in English and literature and-“  
“Yea, yea, I get it”, Markus laughed, “Stay in the front, make your puppy-eyes at him. No one can resist them”  
“You could”, Connor replied with a hum.  
“Yea, I could”, Markus smirked, “Because I have a girlfriend”  
Connor chuckled softly, leaning his head back against the wall and looking at Markus with a soft smile.  
“No other reason?”, he purred.  
Markus let out a soft laugh again.  
“Sorry, Con, you’re not really my type, y’know”, he hummed.  
Connor sighed, though still smiled, looking up towards the ceiling.  
“Girls, huh?”  
Markus chuckled, Connor saw him nodding out of the corner of his eyes.  
“Connor”, the brunette looked up as he heard Daniel’s voice and he smiled at his friend, who was giving Markus a warning glare.  
“Hello, Danny~”, Connor smiled, then looked past him as he saw Mr. Anderson approaching them, Connor’s smile brightening as he pushed himself off the wall, folding his hands behind his back and standing as straight as he could beside the classroom door.  
“Good morning, Mr. Anderson!”, he hummed cheerily as the man stopped in front of the door and took out his key to open the door.  
He stopped, frowning and turning his head to him.  
“It’s 11:45”, he commented.  
Connor smiled at him, nodding.  
“And still a good morning”, he hummed.  
Mr. Anderson kept looking at him for a moment, then he let out a defeated sigh.  
“Whatever”, he mumbled, unlocking the door and opening it before walking inside.  
Connor smirked slightly and followed right behind him, glancing back at Markus and Daniel once more, though his smirk faded and he bit his lip as he saw Daniel narrowing his eyes at Markus and he couldn’t help but be glad that their ways parted so quickly when Daniel walked to the back and Markus all the way to the other end of the classroom.  
He let out a soft sigh as he placed his bag down by his table and then sat down in his chair, quickly grabbing his stuff from his bag and neatly arranging them on his desk, shoving his essay beneath his notebook, practically hiding it. Only then, when he noticed someone more or less sprinting into the seat beside him, he realized that his usual neighbour was missing and now, Markus, with a friendly smile, took the empty seat beside him. He placed his class materials on the desk, sitting down. Connor returned his smile shortly, then turned back to the front, giving their teacher his full attention.  
Mr. Anderson took his time searching through the chaos that was his desk, looking for the materials he prepared, but, after a minute or two, giving up and stepping back from his desk.  
“Shakespearean theatre”, he started, “What can you tell me about it?”, he wanted to know, crossing his arms and stepping out from behind his desk.  
Connor immediately rose his hand, sitting straight on his seat, smiling slightly as he looked towards their teacher eagerly. His gaze lingered on the brunette for a moment, then continued its way across the class, though then returned to Connor and Mr. Anderson let out a sigh.  
“Yes, Mr. Ray-Knight”  
“Shakespearean theatres were built in an open-air style, they could only be played during daylight. There were a few seating ranks for the people willing to pay more and a main stand-up area for the audience, which the stage reached into. Stages usually had a balcony in the back for varied entrances. The ceiling over the stage was called ‘the heavens’ and the basement beneath the stage, which could be accessed through a trapdoor in the stage was called ‘hell’. That was mostly-“  
“Okay, okay, okay”, Mr. Anderson cut him off, “Stop just…rattling off facts”, he huffed.  
Connor looked at him.  
“Impressive. But anyone can learn stuff like that by heart”, Mr. Anderson added, “How about we let someone else answer”  
Connor watched him, then he sunk into his chair slightly, leaning against the back rest with a sigh. Silence, for quite a while, Mr. Anderson was just standing there, watching the class. Connor sat up a little again to look around, but no one was raising their hand, or even remotely showing any interest in his question. Again, a sigh.  
“Connor, what page in the book did you get your information from?”, he asked then.  
“Page 243 following”, Connor replied immediately.  
Mr. Anderson nodded, crossing his arms and looking at the class expectantly, then huffing as no one did even so much as move.  
“Open your books. Page 243. Write down everything you find on Shakespearean theatres and actors. I expect all of you to be able to answer my question in half an hour”, he said, “Now”, he added and finally the students moved, opened their books and soon enough started writing.  
“Nerd”, Markus whispered to Connor teasingly, but grinning at him as he looked for the page in his book.  
Connor smiled back at him, then grabbed his pen, scribbling down a headline for the lesson, but then his gaze was pulled back to their teacher. Mr. Anderson had turned back to his desk and taken to searching through his chaos once again. The brunette hesitated, then he pushed himself off his seat and walked over to him, folding his hands behind his back.  
“Can I help you?”, he hummed.  
Mr. Anderson looked up, frowned at Connor for a moment, then huffed softly.  
“Uh…sure. I’m looking for my lesson plan”, he mumbled, “I got a folder for every class I teach, it should be here somewhere”  
Connor nodded, then moved up to his side at the desk, grabbing a few papers and shortly looking over them before sorting them off to the side, making stacks for the individual classes, trying his best to bring some order to Mr. Anderson’s desk. After a while, when sorting together a few papers, he found a folder with Mr. Anderson’s name on it, his full name.  
“Hank”, Connor thought to himself, smiling softly and looking over at his teacher for a moment before turning back to the desk.  
He was just putting a stack of papers off to the side, when their teacher, when Hank, Connor smiled again as he finally could address him by his first name, even if it was just in his mind, caught his attention again.  
“I’m getting coffee. You…uh…just put the folder out somewhere I can see if when you’ve found it”, he said.  
Connor turned to him completely, leaning on the desk a little and he nodded, smiling at him.  
“If someone has a question…”, Hank sighed, “Knock yourself out, you probably know the stuff anyways”  
Connor’s smile brightened a little more and he nodded quickly.  
“Thank you, Mr. Anderson”, he hummed.  
Hank merely gave him a short half-smile, then he turned and left the room. As soon as the door closed, everyone dropped their work and started talking to their friends. Connor eyed his fellow students for a moment and sighed softly, shaking his head a little and he turned back to his task, getting papers and folders out of the way until he finally found one labelled “English 12”. He smiled, placing it in the middle of the desk and pushing the other paper stacks to the sides a little, making sure they were sorted properly, then he hummed softly, glanced towards the door and then moved back to his seat.  
Markus watched him, raising an eyebrow, then he shook his head lightly, smiling though.  
“You were serious about that, huh?”, Markus chuckled.  
“About what”, Connor hummed, leaning back on his chair.  
“You seriously have a crush on Mr. Anderson”  
Connor just looked at him, grinning slightly and he shrugged. 

When the lesson ended, Connor stayed in his seat for a while. Markus patted his shoulder in a friendly manner as he walked past him and out of the classroom. Just as he was getting up, reaching for his essay, he was stopped.  
“Connor, can we talk?”  
Connor looked up and right at Daniel, who stood beside him.  
“…Later?”, he glanced over at Hank, who was just starting to pack up his things.  
“Why later, we’ve got time now, we’ve got our lunch break now”, Daniel protested.  
The brunette sighed, grabbing his essay off the table and holding it in front of Daniel.  
“I have to talk to Mr. Anderson”, he said.  
“Come on, we only have to hand that in next week, you /want/ to talk to him”, Daniel hissed at him.  
“We’ll talk later”, Connor said again, “You go make sure Simon isn’t alone again”  
Daniel glared at Connor for a moment, then he huffed slightly and turned, leaving the classroom. Connor looked after him and pushed a hand through his hair, watching the last student walk out right after Daniel before Connor turned to look at Hank again.  
“Mr. Anderson”, he said, gaining his attention as he walked up to the front with his essay.  
“Mr. Ray-Knight”, Hank looked up, raising an eyebrow, “What now?”  
“I wanted to know if we could go over my homework real quick?”, Connor hummed, “Technically I’m done, but I was wondering if I really mentioned every point you wanted in there”  
“I’m sure it’s perfectly fine, Mr. Ray-Knight”, Hank let out a sigh.  
“You can call me Connor. A lot of teachers do, to keep me and my brother apart”  
“Your brother?”, Hank rose an eyebrow, “Your brother’s a year below you, I can keep you apart just fine”  
“I meant my twin-brother”, Connor chuckled.  
“Jesus, there’s another one of you?”, Hank frowned, then shook his head, “Go have lunch”  
“Please, I just want to make sure my essay is perfect”  
“I’m sure it already is”, Hank placed his hands on the desk, leaning on it slightly, “You already have advantages over the rest, I can’t give you even more”  
“What do you mean?”, Connor tilted his head to the side a little.  
Hank huffed.  
“You’re already smarter and more motivated, you can’t get the teacher’s help on top of that”, he said.  
Connor couldn’t help but smile at that.  
“Can I hand it in then?”, he hummed.  
Hank sighed.  
“Sure. Why not”, he mumbled, reaching into his bag again.  
Connor watched him, again tilting his head as he noticed some fine, white hairs on Hank’s jacket and he smiled slightly.  
“You have a dog”, he said, more as a statement than as a question.  
Hank hesitated, glancing at him and frowning widely.  
“How do you know”  
“The dog hairs on your jacket. I love dogs”, he smiled brightly, “What kind of dog is it?”  
Hank frowned at him still, then turned back to his bag, hesitating before he finally replied.  
“St. Bernard”, he mumbled then, taking the folder for their class back out.  
Connor smiled still.  
“What’s his name?”, he wanted to know.  
Again he gained a frown from Hank, but he gave in finally.  
“Sumo”, he replied then.  
Connor smiled happily, nodding.  
“Sounds cute”, he hummed, handing Hank his essay, which the teacher took and placed in his folder.  
“He is…”, Hank now actually couldn’t help a small smile, which only made Connor smile even brighter.  
“Well then…give him a pat from me”, Connor chuckled, moving back from the teacher’s desk.  
“Have a nice weekend, Mr. Anderson”, he hummed then as he grabbed his bag and then marched out the door cheerfully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayeee on time, yay!  
> Btw. If you want updates on my fanfictions, I always post on my IG: hiddlesqueen_rp when i post a new chapter of any fanfiction, or a new fanfiction in general


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